Bad Dreams
by wolfgirlnowandforever
Summary: After the war, the former Barian Emperors live together in the Kamishiro Mansion. They all have bedrooms near each other (except for Vector), and since the walls are paper thin, they can all hear when someone is having a nightmare. It's become routine for them to go into that person's room and spend the night.
1. Most Nights

**A/N:** Thanks so much to my good friend Tori (dreamwriters-haven on tumblr) because without her enthusiasm for the initial idea, I wouldn't have had the motivation to write this fic! I hope you enjoy!

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"No… Please, don't—"

Rio felt her eyelids flutter open, her vision still a little bleary as she waited for her eyes to adjust to the darkness. She hadn't been sound asleep just then, but the voice she'd heard had woken her abruptly. She brought her hand to her face and rubbed at her eyes right as she heard the voice again.

"I'm not… Wait, don't do it!"

It was coming from Alit's room. She knew in an instant that he was having a nightmare again. Her room was right next to his, so she could always hear him when he started talking in his sleep. She yawned and looked over at the clock on her dresser. Two in the morning. She groaned, knowing that she was definitely going to have circles under her eyes in the morning. Thank goodness that there was no school tomorrow.

Alit whimpered in his sleep and Rio instantly forgot all about what she might look like in the morning. It sounded like a particularly bad nightmare this time around. She kicked the blankets off of her and swung her legs over her bed. When her feel touched the floor though, she could hear somebody clicking the light on in Alit's room, followed by heavy footsteps. She felt her lips curving upwards at Gilag's deep voice coming through the walls. He had the other room next to Alit's, and was always the first one to reach him. She walked to her door, figuring that she'd be a close second this time.

Upon opening it, she immediately caught sight of Mizael walking down the hallway towards her, scowling. He was dragging a very sleepy looking (but definitely awake) Durbe with him, and Rio had to wonder how he'd managed to wake him up. Out of all of them, Durbe was the heaviest sleeper.

"Hey you two." She whispered, knowing that there was no need to, seeing as almost all of them were awake now, but doing it anyway. She closed her door behind her and followed them. "He wake you up too?"

Durbe nodded, stifling a yawn. "He did. Though Mizael was the one who got me out of bed."

Mizael clicked his tongue in annoyance, but his expression didn't exactly match his next words. "I'm losing out on much needed sleep because of him. I need to confront him."

Rio rolled her eyes. "I'm sure that's the reason. Come on, let's see how he's doing."

The three of them walked into his room, the door left wide open. The first thing they saw was Alit sitting on his bed, his arms wrapped around his knees and his head resting on top of them. Gilag was sitting next to him on the bed, his hand resting on top of Alit's head. Gilag looked up when they entered, but Alit didn't move.

"Hey guys." Gilag said, quickly turning his head back to his best friend after his greeting.

"Is he okay?" Rio asked, making her way over to the other side of Alit's bed and sitting down next to him. "Alit?"

Alit nodded his head a little, but he still didn't look up. Mizael and Durbe sat down on the edge of the bed, their expressions becoming more concerned. Usually, Alit was quick to reassure them that he was fine, that they should all go back to sleep, and not worry about him. But not tonight. That was how they knew that it wasn't one of the usual nightmares he had.

Rio brought her hand up and started rubbing his back. It was a habit she'd picked up in the last few weeks that they had all been living together. Whenever someone had one of the really bad nightmares, the ones that they didn't like to think about, let alone talk about, she'd place her hand on their back and start rubbing soothing circles until she could feel the tension leaving their muscles.

Gilag started talking to Alit again, telling him that he was going to be alright, they were all here with him now. Durbe joined him, mentioning some random facts about dreams that he had learned the other day. He was still pretty tired, so half of his words came out jumbled or slurred. Mizael didn't say anything, but then, seeing as he had been planning on berating him for waking him from his beauty sleep, Rio knew that it was his way of being kind. And all the while Rio kept rubbing his back, feeling him slowly relax at the combination of that and his friend's voices.

She could hear somebody moving around outside of the room, and knew that it was probably Ryouga. It had taken him a while to wake up, which was a little strange. He had always been a light sleeper after all. She wondered why he wasn't coming in already.

"You don't have to worry about getting back to sleep while we're here." Gilag was saying, nodding his head as if agreeing with himself. "We won't let anything happen to you."

"Actually, nothing can actually happened to you in a dreams." Durbe mumbled, lifting his glasses to rub at his eyes. "Nothing in them can hurt you in real lies."

"You mean life." Alit murmured, a hint of amusement in his voice. He lifted his head a little, letting his chin rest on his knees. "Right?"

Rio's hand stilled for a second, and everybody looked at him with wide eyes before smiling. He was finally responding to them, which was a good sign.

Durbe nodded. "Yes, that's right."

Alit looked at the four of them one by one, his green eyes filled with appreciation. His lip twitched upwards, just a little bit, but it was genuine. "Hey, thanks for coming in here you guys. You didn't have to—"

"Don't even start with that." Mizael said, his expression quickly turning from relief to annoyance. Alit's eyes widened, but Mizael didn't end his sentence there. "We're here and we're not going anywhere until you feel better, so shut up and go back to sleep, okay?"

Alit let out a surprised laugh. "Aww, I had no idea you cared so much Mizael."

He rolled his eyes, but the edge was gone. "Whatever, I just want to salvage what little sleep I can. The faster you get back to sleep, the faster the rest of us can too."

"It's a good thing I'm here with these then." Came a voice from the door. They looked up to see Ryouga standing just outside the room, carrying a lot of pillows under one arm and a few blankets in the other. He gestured towards them. "Anybody mind helping me with these? I brought enough for everyone and they're surprisingly heavy."

Durbe and Gilag got off the bed and went over to him, each of them taking a few things so that they weren't overly burdened. Rio smiled at her twin brother and held her hand out for a pillow.

"Is this why you were so late to the party?" She asked, sticking her tongue out teasingly.

He shrugged, playing off this gesture as if it was no big deal. "I figured we'd want to be a little more comfortable than all the other times that this has happened."

Rio knew what he was referring to. Roughly every other night for the past three weeks, someone in the house had a nightmare, and because the walls were so thin, they usually ended up in that person's room, sprawled out on the floor. She usually woke up from those nights with a sore neck from sleeping at a weird angle.

Durbe handed her a blanket, and she smiled at him in thanks. Without having to speak, they found themselves spreading out on Alit's bedroom floor. Gilag took the spot next to Alit's bed, of course. Ryouga went over to the corner of the room, a bit separate from everyone else, but he kept his back to the wall and his face to them. Mizael chose the spot at the foot of Alit's bed, and brought Durbe down next to him. Rio decided that she wanted to be close to the exit and let her pillow fall right in front of the open door. She flicked the lights off before she sank down to the floor and covered herself with the blanket.

"Hey guys?" Alit asked as soon as everybody had settled in for the night.

"Yeah Alit?" Gilag answered for them.

"Thanks again for coming." He said, his voice softening to a whisper. He covered his head with his blanket and curled in on himself, though not in a frightened way this time. Almost like he was embarrassed. "I just wanted to say that I appreciate it. S-so good night."

"Good night!" Mizael said in a tone that suggested everybody else keep their mouth shut. Rio bit back a giggle and let her head fall back onto the pillow.

They'd done this so many times that they didn't even think about how weird it might seem to an outsider. Rio still remembered the first time this had happened. She was a little embarrassed that it had been for her sake back then. She'd had a bad dream, flashes from her past life. Nothing too bad as far as her nightmares went, not like the dream where she was drowning beneath the waves, but it had been enough to wake up her brother and Alit. And before she knew it, the rest of them were in her room, comforting her until she fell asleep. She had been surprised to see that they were still in there in the morning, but it had meant so much to her that they had given up a good night's sleep to reassure her. And a couple of days later it had been Durbe who needed to be comforted, and a few days after that it was Gilag.

She didn't like that they were all still having nightmares, but she did like that they could do things like this without thinking about it. It was a good habit.

Vector hadn't come over once since they'd started having these sort-of sleepovers though. He must be having these bad dreams too, if the rest of them were having them, but he never let any of them know about it. Rio had tried asking him about it once, but he'd just gotten pissy (well, pissier than usual at least) at her and left the house for a few hours.

Well, if he wasn't asking for help, she certainly wasn't going to waste her time giving it to him only to get the cold shoulder in response. Maybe he'd get over being such a baby someday, but until then, it wasn't her problem.

She yawned, realizing that she was really tired. She was about to close her eyes when a little figure walked past the door. There was only one person in the house who was that small. Rio sat up and, mindful of the others, whispered her name. "Iris, wait."

The little girl jumped a little at the sound of her name, but she did as she was told and turned back. She peeked her little face from behind the doorframe and whispered, "Yes, Merag-sama?"

Rio smiled at the honorific. No matter how many times she'd told her that it was okay not to, Iris still insisted on using it. She held her hand out and motioned for the girl to come closer. "Would you come in for a second, sweetie?"

Iris hesitated for a second, shifting her eyes from Rio to the direction she'd just come from, but nodded and walked inside. "What is it, Merag-sama?"

Rio patted the space next to her and smiled. "Would you like to sleep with us tonight?"

Iris's eyes widened and she reached up to place a piece of her hair into her mouth. It was a habit the little girl had taken to since she'd been living with them. "I'm not sure…"

Rio laughed, cutting it short when she heard Ryouga stirring. She lowered her voice when she spoke again. "Is it because you still shy around me, Iris? It's okay, you can tell me"

Iris blushed, the color barely visible in the darkness. "O-Only a little, Merag-sama."

Rio reached for her hand and Iris let herself be brought closer. "I'm sorry. You can go to your room if you want to, but I was thinking that it'd be nice if you joined our little sleepover."

Iris considered it for a minute, chewing away at the green hair in her mouth before nodding. "It does sound really nice. Okay, I'll stay if you want me to."

Rio smiled and nodded. "I sure do. Here, you can sleep right next to me."

"Really? You'd let me sleep next to you?" Iris asked, a little smile forming on her features. Rio was struck by how familiar the girl's smile was to her own at that age, even though it shouldn't have been a surprise. They did have the same face, after all.

Rio nodded in answer to Iris's question and the little girl immediately let herself sink to the floor. Rio grabbed the blanket and wrapped it around the two of them. Iris cuddled up next to her, taking up half the pillow. She looked into the older girl's eyes to see if that was alright, the shyness returning to her features. Rio smiled and put her arm over her in response. She might have been an ice queen, but she would always be warm to the people she cared about.

Iris closed her pretty blue eyes and sighed contently. "Good night, Merag-sama. And thank you."

"It's no problem. Good night, Iris." She murmured, feeling her tiredness catching up with her. She was more than ready to turn in for the night.

Before she fell asleep, she wondered why Iris had been out of her room so late at night, but she figured that it must have been because of all the noise they were making. She was too sleepy to question why Iris would have waited until after everybody was turning in to show up. Whatever the reason, it must have been a good one.


	2. Every Night

**A/N: **Here's chapter two! This was probably my favorite chapter to write :) Enjoy~

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'_You have to pay. You must make up for your sins!'_ The voices of the dead screamed at him, angry and deafening and right behind him. As fast as he was running, Vector knew that they were inching closer by the second.

'_I want to, I will!'_ Vector shouted back in his mind, but they weren't listening to him. His lungs were burning, his legs were aching, and all he wanted to do was stop and lie down, but he couldn't. Not when those things were chasing after him, angry at him, calling for revenge and his death and…

He felt something trip him, not a stone under his feet but a _hand_ grabbing onto his ankle, and he fell to the ground hard. He cried out at the sudden flash of pain that went through his body. It hurt, everything hurt and he didn't know how to stop it. When he tried to stand up again, whatever had tripped him held on tight and he couldn't move, couldn't breathe because they were _right there right behind him he couldn't get away from them help me help me please—!_

Vector's eyes shot open and he surged forward into a sitting position. Cold sweat covered his body, making his hair stick to his forehead and his clothes stick to his skin. He could feel his heart hammering in his chest as if he really had just run for his life, his breathing harsh and uneven. A whimper clawed its way past his throat and out past his lips before he could swallow it down, but he bit the inside of his cheek as hard as he could when he felt the burning behind his eyes. There was no way in hell that he was crying over this, no way.

He felt his teeth going through the skin and focused on the pain until the feeling went away. He sucked in a deep breath and let his head hang back. The blood was metallic on his tongue and immediately brought his mind back to the nightmare. He gripped his sheets, anger coursing through him. Was escaping that stupid dream impossible even when he was awake?! Vector wanted to scream until his voice was hoarse, but that might wake up the whole house, and he didn't want them to see him like this, couldn't stand the idea of their smug faces staring down at him and thinking that he was weak. It was one of the reasons he had chosen the room furthest from the rest of them.

A little part of him wanted to go ahead and scream anyway, just to see who would come. He suspected that nobody would anyway. Sure, they had their stupid sleepovers when one of them had a little bad dream (he had just happened to overhear them talking about it at the breakfast table, he hadn't eavesdropped!), but he was sure that if he was screaming bloody murder, not one of them would come to check and see if he was alright. And he didn't care. He _didn't_. Let them pretend to be a big happy family together all they wanted, he was doing just fine without them. Just fine.

That was what he kept telling himself at least.

There was a soft knock on his door, and Vector barely had time to fix his face to a neutral expression before it creaked open. He was ready to yell at whoever it was that was entering his room uninvited, when Iris's head peeked in.

"Vector-sama?" Iris asked, her voice soft. Her face showed that she was sleepy, but concerned. "May I come in?"

Vector didn't get the chance to answer her before she opened the door all the way and walked inside. She didn't stop until she was right by his bed, her blue eyes looking up at his face.

"Did you have another bad dream?" Iris asked, reaching up and patting his arm.

If it had been anybody else right now, Vector would have cursed at them for bothering him so late at night and kicked them out of his room. But it was Iris, so he merely shrugged and tried not to let her see how upset he'd been just a minute ago. "Whatever, I'm fine Iris."

She smiled and nodded. "Of course you are, Vector-sama. But I'm going to stay with you until you fall asleep, okay?"

Vector frowned and let himself sink back down on his bed before turning away from her. "Do whatever you want, kid. Just don't blame me when you wake up feeling tired."

"I don't ever feel tired after I'm with you." She chirped, and he knew that she was probably still smiling at him. Damn cheerful child. She had been coming into his room practically every night since they'd all been brought back. They'd given her the room closest to his, though it was still a few rooms away, and she was somehow able to hear him every night.

He didn't mind having her around, surprisingly enough. So maybe it was nice having somebody around after a nightmare, big deal. He wasn't about to _admit_ it.

Iris ran her fingers through his hair, humming under her breath. It was a familiar tune to Vector, having heard it every night for nearly a month now. It was some made up song that Iris had come up with, probably off the top of her head. He knew that in a few seconds, she would start to sing the words in an attempt to comfort him. Not that he needed comforting, but it was nice knowing that she wanted to, all the same.

"The stars will shine…" Iris began to sing, her voice soft and sweet. "The world still turns, you don't have to be afraid…"

The lyrics were so familiar to him that he could have sung them with her. Nothing in this world would be enough for him to actually do it, but he said the next words in his mind as Iris sang them out loud.

"The rain falls down, the world still turns, and I'll always be your friend."

When she first started singing to him, he used to think this little song she came up with was the most annoying thing in the world. But he found himself humming it under his breath sometimes, when his thoughts went dark, or when he felt himself getting overwhelmed with everything, and after a while he found that it actually calmed him down a little.

Vector could feel his breath starting to even out as she kept running her fingers through his wild hair and started up her song again. It reminded him of something, though he couldn't quite remember what it was at the moment. He knew that he'd felt comfort like this before, that he'd felt safe like this a long time ago.

"The stars will shine, the world still turns, you don't have to be afraid…" Iris continued, her voice getting softer with each verse. She was barely speaking above a whisper now. "The rain falls down, the world still turns, and I'll always be your friend~"

Vector's eyes began closing by themselves. He could feel himself getting sleepier the longer Iris sang to him, and he wasn't afraid of going back to sleep. He really should have been, considering that he could go back to the nightmare he'd just gotten out of. But with the words of her song echoing in his mind, he didn't feel like there was room for anything else in there.

Iris stopped singing and hummed the tune for a few minutes before she asked, "Do you think you'll be okay now, Vector-sama?"

He wanted to open his eyes and tell her that yes, he was okay. Of course he was, he'd never _not_ been okay and how dare she ask him that? But all he could do was nod, he was so drowsy.

"I'm glad. Good night." Iris said. She wrapped her little arms around him, and he barely acknowledged that she had hugged him before her arms were gone and he could hear her footsteps going towards the door. The last thing he heard before sleep overcame him was the soft click of the door being closed behind her.

/

Vector slumped down at his spot in the breakfast table, still groggy from the night before. Even though he'd gotten back to sleep fairly quickly, the fact that it had been broken into two parts on top of the fact he had to wake up early for school (which, for the record, was a complete waste of his time) resulted in his current state of exhaustion.

The only other people in the kitchen with him at the moment were Gilag and Durbe. They were busying themselves around the room, making breakfast for the rest of the house when they came downstairs. He didn't really care what they were cooking, so long as it was edible. Durbe wasn't such a bad cook, but Gilag could make plain old toast deadly. Vector did not want to go to school with a stomach ache again, and he let them know it.

"You know, you could try helping us for once." Durbe said, keeping his eyes on whatever it was he was cooking in the frying pan. "That way if you get sick, it will be your own fault."

"Nah, I don't wanna." Vector muttered, toying around with his fork. He was wondering if it would do much damage if he just so happened to jab it into someone's (cough, Nasch's) hand by accident, when he heard footsteps coming down the stairs.

He turned and saw Iris and Alit coming in, Iris on top of Alit's shoulders and dressed in her elementary school uniform. She didn't look at all tired from last night, and Vector couldn't help being a little envious.

"Look who's all ready for school." Alit said, looking up at the little girl, who smiled down at him. Alit himself was only half dressed, tie still undone, shirt only partly buttoned up.

"Good morning, everybody!" She chirped from her perk, waving at them. Gilag waved back, and Durbe gave her a warm smile, his hands still busy with the food in front of him. Vector suspected that it was an omelet.

Alit let her down so that she could take a seat at the breakfast table. Iris went and sat in the seat right next to Vector. She always did this, and it confused the rest of them to no end. Vector smirked to himself, feeling a little smug about it despite it being a petty victory.

"Good morning, Vector-sama." Iris said, addressing him separately from the rest. She tilted her head to get a better look at his face and smiled when his purple eyes met her blue ones. "I hope you had a good night's sleep."

He found that he couldn't help smiling back at her. He would definitely deny it if somebody noticed it though. "Yeah, I guess I did."

She nodded happily to herself. "Good. I'm glad."

Before he could think to stop himself, he reached over and rubbed her head affectionately, making her giggle. She had a nice laugh, like soft little bells, and it almost made him want to laugh too, before he realized what he had just done.

He could sense the eyes on him before he looked up. Gilag, Alit, and Durbe were staring at the two of them with wide eyes, like they couldn't believe what they were seeing. Vector drew his hand back and quickly scowled at the three of them.

"What are you looking at?" Vector growled, trying to look as menacing as possible. Which was kind of hard, what with the giggling girl next to him.

Durbe blinked (looking like a freaking owl in Vector's opinion) and cleared his throat before turning back to the stove. "Nothing, I suppose. Breakfast will be done in a few minutes."

His words seemed to have the effect that Vector had been aiming for with his glare. Alit and Gilag stopped staring at him at least.

"Good, because I'm _starving_." Alit said, going over to where Gilag was and looking over his shoulder. "Are you experimenting on toast again, buddy?"

Vector let out a breath he hadn't known he'd been holding, relieved. They let it drop without any questions, and good thing too. He would have stormed out of the house if they'd kept pushing it, so that he could salvage his reputation, and would have had to go to school hungry. And as much as he didn't want to have an awful breakfast, it was still better than leaving on an empty stomach, right?

Right.

"Hey is breakfast ready?" A voice asked from the doorway. He looked up to see Ryouga walking into the room, and Rio just behind him.

"Ou-sama!" Iris cried, jumping out of her seat and rushing towards him. She wrapped her arms around his legs and laughed happily. Ryouga patted her head, similar to what Vector had just done a few moments ago. Only nobody stared as if it was a side-show attraction, Vector thought bitterly.

Durbe answered the question, smiling at his friend. "Almost. Take a seat."

Ryouga tried to move, but couldn't get very far with Iris still clinging to his legs. He cleared his throat, getting her attention. "Um, Iris?"

She looked up at him with a big smile on her face. "Yes, Ou-sama?"

"Would you mind going upstairs and waking up Mizael for us? It's very important." He asked. Vector knew that he only said that because he didn't want to tell the little girl to let go of him outright and potentially make her feel bad. He would have made a snarky comment about it if Iris wasn't right there.

She beamed and nodded her head vigorously. "I sure can! Leave it to Iris!"

And with that she detangled herself from Ryouga's legs and hurried up the stairs.

Now that she was out of earshot, Vector had no qualms about making mean comments to the former king. "Giving her a job to do rather than kicking her off. My, what a sensitive young mother you've grown up to be, Nasshu~"

"Shut your mouth, Vector." Ryouga muttered, taking the seat furthest away from him. "It's too early to be dealing with you."

"Just ignore him, Ryouga." Rio said, taking the seat next to her brother. To Vector, she said, "I'm surprised that you waited until she wouldn't hear. I think you've grown pretty sensitive yourself."

Vector felt a flood of outrage wash over him. Sensitive? _Him_? How dare she! He stood up from his chair, deciding that he wouldn't endure another word of this… this _slander_!

"_You're_ the sensitive one!" He cried, instantly regretting his intended comeback. It was lame and beneath him. He turned and grabbed a piece of fruit off the counter (hey, he couldn't leave completely empty handed) and left the house without another word.

A little part of his mind nagged at him that he shouldn't have left without saying goodbye to Iris, but he shook the thought out of his head. Iris would see him again after school, and besides that she had everybody else with her. What he really should be worrying about, he told himself, was how he was supposed to last on nothing but an orange for breakfast?

Well… if it came down to it, he could always steal Nasch's lunch out of his locker.


	3. This Night

**A/N:** Last chapter guys! I hope you all enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it :) Let me know what you think!

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He hurt all over.

There wasn't a single place in his body that didn't ache with pain. He could only imagine how much pain Jinlong was in. He wanted to pull the arrows out of himself, and out of his friend's body, but his arms couldn't move. He wasn't sure if it was because the arrows had him pinned down or because of the bloodloss.

He could feel his eyes starting to close by themselves, and he knew he didn't have long now. As much as he wanted to face death with dignity, the way a dragon would, he couldn't help but feel afraid. He didn't want to die. He didn't want to die yet! He wanted to stay alive, continue protecting the village that had rejected him and his dragon, but his body felt so heavy and he couldn't hear Jinlong's breathing anymore. He his own breathing becoming shallower and shallower and he didn't have enough energy to take another breath, but he wanted to gather enough air so he could scream that he _didn't want to die, not yet not yet_—!

He gasped and felt himself grabbing at his sheets as he woke up, his heartbeat racing. He stared up at his ceiling for a few seconds, the shock of that familiar nightmare making his mind go blank. _Just breathe_, he told himself, focusing on the sound of air in his lungs for a while . As his breathing relaxed, he noticed that it had a strange echo, much calmer and at a slight distance. He blinked, turning his head to the side in confusion, and nearly gasped again when Iris's large blue eyes blinked back at him.

"Iris!" He half-whispered, half-exclaimed as he sat up. He hadn't realized that the little girl was in his room, and wondered how long she had been in there. He coughed, hiding the slight quaver in his voice and asked, "Why are you in here? Do you have any idea how late it is?"

Iris was smiling, a comforting little thing. "I'm sorry I didn't knock first, Miza onii-chan. I heard you from my room and wanted to see if you were okay, so I came in."

Mizael felt his face heat up from embarrassment. Iris was a only a few doors away from him, but if she had heard him, surely the others had too. They had gone two days now without needing to have a group sleepover, and he didn't want to be the one who needed to start them up again.

"I'm fine, Iris. Go back to bed." Mizael said, hoping that Iris was the only one he had woken up. He was fine. It was only a mild relapse, he could handle it on his own. He didn't want the others to wake up and fuss over him.

Iris looked at the door, but she didn't make as if to leave. She leaned closer to him and said in a soft voice, "It's just that you sounded the same as when Vector-sama has a bad dream, and I was worried because those are always really bad…"

Mizael's eyebrows crept together. "Vector has nightmares too?"

Iris nodded, her eyes widening. "Of course he does, onii-chan. He just doesn't talk about them like everybody else does."

He felt a little smug just then, despite himself. It was a little satisfying to know that Vector had it just as bad as the rest of them, and was just better at hiding them. But now was not the time to be thinking about how he was going to mock Vector about it in the morning. Right now, Iris needed to get back to her own room.

"Iris, I'm alright. Let's get you back to bed, it's much too late for you to be awake." He said, swinging his legs over his bed. "You're going to be really tired in the morning."

Iris shook her head, sending her light green bangs flying. "I'm always up at this time and I'm never tired."

Mizael stopped and stared at the little girl in front of him, wondering how she could say that so casually. "And why are you always up at this hour?"

"I told you, onii-chan. Vector-sama has bad dreams every night." Iris smiled widely at her next words. "He didn't wake up tonight though. It's the first time all month. I think he's finally getting better!"

"Wait, so he's been making you stay up every night this month?" Mizael asked, feeling angry at hearing this. He had always known that Vector was selfish, but taking away Iris's sleep? That was a bit too much, even for him.

But Iris shook her head. "No, he doesn't _make_ me. I go and help him get back to sleep. Just like I'm going to help you!"

He might have laughed if it hadn't been so late. Instead, he shook his head and allowed himself a small smile. "Thank you, but I don't need any help. You should just go back to your room and catch up on all that sleep you've apparently missed out on this month."

Iris didn't move towards the door though, stubborn as ever. She climbed on his bed and sat right next to him. "But you do need my help, onii-chan. The bad dream you were having sounded really bad."

Okay, so maybe he was starting to get a little frustrated at her tenacity. But he wasn't about to kick her out of his room. "It wasn't that bad, alright? I'm okay."

"Durbe Tou-chan says that it's always better to talk about your problems. Tell me all about it, onii-chan." She mimed locking her lips and throwing away the key. "It's okay, I won't tell anybody."

He really didn't want to. This was his problem, not hers, and he really would be fine in the morning. But nobody else was coming in (he must not have been too loud this time) and Iris was offering an open ear. Plus she was looking up at him with those earnest blue eyes of hers, unique from his and Ryouga's, so how could he say no?

So he told her about his dream. He tried not to go into explicit detail, but for a brief moment, he forgot that he to a little girl, and not one of the former emperors. He let it slip how his body had hurt so much, and the fear he had felt just before he died. He told her about the arrows and Jinlong dying underneath him and how he couldn't breathe at the end.

She had been quiet the whole time he had been talking, and Mizael thought that it was strange, because she usually liked to interrupt him when he was talking to add her own input. He blinked and saw from the dim light of the moon that she was crying. Tears were rolling down her face and she wasn't as quiet as he'd first thought, sniffling into her hands.

He panicked, of course. He stepped off his bed and knelt down beside her, his eyes wide and confused. What was it that he said that caused her to cry? He thought he had censored his story enough for her to hear, but apparently he was wrong.

"Iris? Iris, I'm sorry. Why are you crying, child?" He asked, wishing that he had just kept his mouth shut about his dream, or lied, or _something_ other than tell her.

Iris wiped the tears out of her eyes, even as fresh ones quickly replaced them. "I-I'm sorry, onii-chan. I-It's just that I died that way too, and it's s-so scary to remember."

Mizael felt like the world's biggest jerk as he suddenly remembered Ryouga telling him, privately, about how Iris had died in her past life. How he could have ever forgotten?

He reached up and brushed a lock of light green hair out of her face. Her whole face was streaked with tears, and he felt the guilt weighing heavy in the pit of his stomach. "I'm sorry I made you remember. I shouldn't have said anything."

She shook her head, sending her hair flying again. "N-No, I asked you to t-tell me. But… But can I s-stay with you tonight? I don't wanna be a-alone."

He didn't have to think before he answered. "Of course, Iris."

"Thank you, onii-chan." She gave him a watery smile, weak but genuine, and she crawled over to the left side and gestured for him to join her on the right side.

He stood up and settled himself back in his bed. Iris wriggled over and wrapped her little arms around his arm, which surprised him for a moment, but he reached over and patted her hair. She was still sniffling, but with much less urgency than before. He could feel his sleeve getting damp from her still tear-filled eyes, but he found that he didn't mind it too much. He was the cause of those tears after all.

"Onii-chan?" Iris asked a few minutes later, her voice soft.

"Yes?" He asked, worried that he'd somehow done something wrong again. The way he had so thoroughly messed up before made him question his silence even.

"Can you tell me a story?" She asked, tilting her head up to look at his face. Mizael was relieved to note that her tears had stopped at least. "A nice one about your dragon friend?"

He felt the corners of his mouth curve upwards. "Of course."

So he told her about when he had been a young dragon tamer, and how he and Jinlong had protected the village. How Jinlong had flown him over the country, and spoken to him in the special language that only dragons and the people they trusted knew, and how they spent hours just looking down at the people they had protected. He nearly lost himself in his memories, but he made sure this time to cut out anything that might have scared her.

He was in the middle of telling her about how it had felt to reach up and touch the clouds while on top of a majestic dragon, when her soft snoring alerted him to the fact that she was already asleep.

It was a huge relief that he had managed to get her to get back to sleep, but he couldn't help feeling just a little disappointed that she had missed out on one of his better stories (if he did say so himself). He smiled and made sure that she had more than enough of the blanket before settling himself in the bed, careful not to jostle her too much.

The thought crossed his mind that maybe he should have tried carrying her to her bed, but he dismissed it almost as quickly as it came to him. That would risk waking her up, and she had told him that she didn't want to be alone. No, she needed to stay here for the night.

(And okay, maybe he didn't want to be alone tonight either.)

He let his eyes close and waited for sleep to come back. When it did a few minutes later, he was back in his memories, reaching up to touch the clouds.

/

Durbe knocked on Mizael's door and waited for the blond to open it, knowing that as much as Mizael hated having to wake up early, he hated having to rush through his morning routine more. Normally he or Ryouga had Iris go wake him up, but Iris, strangely, was not already up and about. He reminded himself to go check on her after he was finished with Mizael.

When Mizael didn't open the door with a tired sounding 'Is it time to get up already?' though, Durbe frowned and knocked on the door once again, a little louder this time. It wasn't normal for Mizael not to respond, considering that he wasn't a heavy sleeper. His knock went unanswered again and, growing concerned, Durbe opened the door to his room.

What he saw, however, made the worry disappear almost instantly.

There on the bed, sleeping as soundly as Durbe had ever seen him, was the former dragon tamer, with Iris asleep beside him. Iris had her arms around Mizael's left arm, and Mizael's head was resting half on his pillow and half on Iris's head. They both had very peaceful expressions on their faces, and hadn't stirred in the moments that Durbe had been looking at them.

It was the cutest thing he'd ever seen, to be honest.

Durbe felt his mouth turning up at the corners the longer he looked at them. He wondered why the two of them were sleeping in Mizael's room like this. He suspected that one of them (or maybe the both of them?) might've had a nightmare in the night and rather than waking the others, had decided to comfort each other until they could get back to sleep. Durbe didn't feel at all slighted that they hadn't invited him, because they looked so content that he couldn't imagine anybody else coming in and interrupting this.

Speaking of interruptions …

"Durbe!" Vector's voice called from the end of the hallway. Durbe looked away from the cute sight in front of him to see Vector walking towards him. The orange-haired teen looked a lot better than he did most mornings, well rested and alert. His expression, however, didn't match his complexion. He looked a bit worried, but Durbe had no idea what about.

"What is it?" Durbe asked when Vector reached him. He kept his voice down, so as not to wake Iris and Mizael.

Vector either hadn't seen them yet, or didn't care, because he didn't bother to lower his voice. "I haven't seen Iris this morning. Is she okay?"

"Perfectly fine." Durbe raised an eyebrow at Vector's inquiry. He knew that Vector had a soft spot for the little girl (they all did, acturall) but he didn't expect this level of concern coming from him. He smiled, glad that Vector wasn't as cold-hearted as he wanted them all to believe he was and nodded in the girl's direction. "She's in there, Vector."

"She is?" Vector's eyebrows crept together but he brushed past him and looked inside. His expression immediately changed from one of concern to one of (if Durbe wasn't mistaken) jealousy. His lower lip jutted out into a pout and his arms crossed over his chest. "Oh. She is."

Durbe bit his lower lip to keep from smiling at Vector's reaction. He had never seen Vector like this, at least not seriously. Sure, he put on a mock-jealous face a lot of times, but this one seemed genuine. He felt the need to reassure Vector that if he asked nicely, Iris was very likely to do the same for him, but before he had the chance to open his mouth, Iris shifted and blinked up sleepily at them.

She looked confused for a second, before recognizing the two of them and breaking out in a huge grin. "Durbe Tou-chan! Vector-sama!" She cried, scrambling out of the bed and rushing over to them. She reached Vector first and wrapped her arms around his legs for a moment before moving on to Durbe.

Mizael woke up then, sitting up in his bed and looking to his left first thing. When he didn't see Iris, his eyes quickly scanned the room and stopped on the group in front of him. He looked surprised at the sight of Iris latched onto Durbe's legs, but his face soured when his eyes landed on Vector.

"What's going on?" He asked, directing his question to Durbe and pointedly ignoring the angry glare that Vector was throwing at him.

Durbe smiled as he reached down to pick up the little girl who was still clinging to his legs. "I was just coming to wake you up, but we kind of got distracted when we saw that Iris was in here with you."

"Oh. That." Mizael's face turned pink at his words, but he tried to play the whole thing off as no big deal. "She just came into my room last night and we fell asleep, whatever."

"I was helping him after he had a bad dream!" Iris said, more than happy to let them know what he was leaving out. She grinned at him. "And then I got scared so he let me stay with him and he told me stories until I fell asleep."

Durbe smiled at her. "That sounds nice."

She nodded her head vigorously. "It really was, Durbe Tou-chan! Miza onii-chan tells the best stories."

Vector's eyes narrowed at Mizael, and even Durbe could feel the malice coming off of him. "Sounds like a lot of fun."

Mizael raised an eyebrow, challenging him. "I guess you could say that it was, Vector. What does it matter to you?"

"You stole my sleeping aid, Miza-chyan!" Vector exclaimed looking quite put out by this. "That's why it matters to me!"

Mizael's face became defensive and he sat up straighter on his bed. "You don't own her! She isn't obligated to be your sleeping aid!"

Durbe could see that this was the beginning of a lengthy argument between the two of them and thought that it would be best for Iris if they left before it got too heated. He hitched the girl higher in his arms and walked out of the room. He asked in his most cheerful voice, "Hey, what do you say to breakfast right now Iris?"

"I say yes!" Iris said, her voice clear and cheerful, completely oblivious to the sounds of arguing behind her. "Can we have cinnamon rolls today, Durbe Tou-chan?"

Durbe felt his heart warming at the little nickname she'd given him. Even after a month, it still made him smile. He set her down when they got to the stairs and let her grab his hand. "Of course we can Iris. Let's go see if Merag wants to help us make them."

Iris nodded and swung their hands as the descended the stairs together. "Okay!"


End file.
